#Book35 2023
Title: Jaya- An illustrated re telling of Mahabharat
Author: Devdutt Patnaik
Pub: Penguin
Year: 2010
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 349
Review: I had purchased this book long time back, but always contemplated how different would this be from the various other re tellings of Mahavharat I had already read.
But I am so glad I read this in a few sittings over this extended G20 weekend. Fabulous because Devdutt (name of Arjun's Conch Shell) Patnaik has the innate ability to link the various stories of Mahabharat with the backstories to give us a complete picture of how karma works in our lives.
I particularly loved his understanding of the distilled wisdom from Mahabharat esp as he concludes with the story of how the Kauravas end up in Swarg and the Pandavas, except Yudhistir end up in Naraka, because despite Lord Krishna preaching to them they are unable to overcome their hubris or pride, anger, gluttony and arrogance. Mastery over self is the only victory. Like truth, Karma is the only thing that prevails in the end, across your birth times, not just life times. What we don't understand perhaps of why certain things happen is that we are not privy to our backstories.
The other interesting thing is what EH Carr also said that if we don't learn from history we end up repeating- Nala lost his empire to a game of dice, as did Yudhistir.
My favourite sentence/ learning from the book is a reinforcement in my own believe to remain true to a loving, empathic approach even though people may take advantage, God will keep the score.
The learning- "Dharma is about empathy and growth". When after the end of the Mahabharat and heavy loss of life on both Kaurav and Pandav camps, Yuddhistir is reluctant to take over as the King, Krishna advices him- Do not become the King because of your ambition or renounce it because of personal whim, but become the king to establish Dharma so that you may help the people achieve wisdom.
The concept of the Boddhisatva who will come after Buddha as Maitreya is very similar to Krishna's advice, as unlike a Buddha who first gets enlightened, the Boddhisatva ensures the enlightment of all beings before he aspires for his own.
Thank you